Hi All,
Been reading around for quite some time, yet now need your help.
I plan on building a new house (Europe) next year and would like to go full Zigbee/Zwave.
Big gamble because the idea is that i would only be running 230V to endpoints and no longer to switches.
In your opinion is the technology far enough to establish a stable system (some thinkering is allowed, but the misses will require some WAF)
Following setup in mind
75 light points (mix of GU10 and other)
12 switches
4 motion detect
4 multisensor
10 windows/door sensors
8 somfy shades
1 flooding sensor
3 fire/smoke alarms
smart meters for utilities and PV panels
Hello and welcome to the forum. I just read what you wrote. I have to admit that I didn’t understand it exactly, but the following occurred to me spontaneously:
KNX
The systems are very extensive and also not comparable with each other. In your case, I could imagine that the Homematic system would make sense. But since we are here in the HA forum, it is possible to choose the right and sensible one from each system and then integrate, monitor and control it with Home Assistant
Thx for the advice. KNX was used in the old house. My goal is to not use any wiring anymore for “controlling” not even buscable. Homematic also uses wiring so also out of equation
I will have a look at shelly and sonoff as they indeed seem to answer my needs.
Shelly/Sonoff --> can these modules be built into the concrete ceiling (cavity already foreseen for lamp fixture)?
Hello, unfortunately I can’t answer this question, I don’t have a Shelly device yet, I only know it from the recommendations. Unfortunately, I cannot give any information about the Sonoff devices. But if I read that correctly, it is now possible to directly integrate the Shelly devices in HA (HACS), I don’t think that is the case with Sonoff devices.
+1 for a HomeMatic solution, particularly if you go for the wired IP version although I use the wireless version and it’s been flawless. I would only ever use wired smoke alarms for peace of mind. Given that your whole house is going to depend on it, I would stay away from a Raspberry Pi. Invest in a small NUC or similar and you won’t have to worry about SD card corruption. If you use RaspberryMatic for the HomeMatic CCU it can run under Proxmox on the same box as Home Assistant.
Also, I would think long and hard about getting rid of switches. They will be difficult & expensive to retrofit if you ever sell your house, and it will confuse guests. I use Schneider retractive (ie spring loaded) switches, so either HA or the switch can be used to control a device. If I ever sell, I can easily replace them with standard switches.
Finally, check out Quindor’s intermit.tech channel on Youtube where he documented a new house build.
Regular light switches are in the way anyway, get rid of them!
It might be mandatory to have 230 wired supply to smoke detectors. Also you would need to build the system so that next tenant can use it as well or so that it is easy to renovate regular switches if needed. Unless you plan to live there 40 years, I would not think too much of next tenants.
I have found zwave stable. Have some door/window sensors and power outlets. Rather small network though. The frequency is smaller than wifi so range is better and less interference.
+1 also running on some other system than pi.
I would also have the manual control possibility figured out. Without automation and phones. There is no way to control lights automatically to fit every situation.
Will be a house for the next 50 years
Remotes are for sure needed, what i want to avoid is running powerlines to the classic switch locations.
Homematic IP seems interesting, yet i fail to see the benefit over Shelly or Sonoff?
If I am reading correctly then there is limited benefit to using RaspberryMatic? Are there features that are better vs the CCU offered by Homematic itself?
The main advantage is the range of platforms it will run on. Also the developer Jens Maus is good at responding to issues.
Finally there are a number of plug in apps for it.
In my opinion it would be the worst idea ever,
Automation system should always be a compagnon to make your life easier and shall never be a system you 100% rely on.
IT happens to fail/crash, and Zigbee and Zwave also.
My Fibaro that turn on / off my central gaz heater just enter in the zwave dead state today(for the second time in 4 months) and temperature was over 26°C when i return from work to home when heater should have been in away mode…
About Zigbee:
Most lights involves to run a N times on/off temporized sequence for reset them, and it also happens that you are facing situation you need to do it and include them again in your mesh.
Remote controls(like Phillips, ikea, Aqara) can sometimes become unresponsive for sort time.
Having no switch at all will finished to give you impression to live in a nigthmare with regrets having built an house from scratch and refused to deploy the most basic parts that switchs are.
You sould better run your electrical lines with phase + neutral + command lines to each logical switch locations and then install zwave/zigbee enabled physical switches(it need both phase and neutral for module alimentation + L1/L2 for lights control).
So even if your automation system run into trouble you can still preserve full control over your house as those modules are wired and so are able to be automonous and respond on physical press.
The problem i see with running “classic” switches with included zwave functionality is that i am not aware of devices on the market that allow 4 controls or more (similar to the aeotec wallmote quad).
Until now the only devices i have seen with both wired and wireless functionality are all limited to 1 or max 2 controls / toggles